Reich Refugees Have Spurred Clothing Trade in Holland, Report Shows

July 11, 1938

LONDON (Jul. 10)

The beneficial effects of the establishment in Holland of ready made clothing factories by German-Jewish immigrants, are acknowledged in the report on economic and commercial conditions in the Netherlands published here by the board of overseas trade. The report was written by Mr. R. V. Laming, Commercial Secretary of the British Legation at the Hague.

“Not only did native concerns expand,” the report declares, “but an influx of Jewish industrialists from Germany also contributed to the extension.

“The benefits to the native textile industry were obvious as imports of clothing were restricted as well as much of the material used. The total imports in 1934 amounted to over 17,400,000 florins worth, which by 1936 had been reduced to 13,200,000 florins. As regards quantities, the following instance speaks volumes: imports of ribber-proofed clothing in 1934 still amounted to 185 tons, but by 1936 this was reduced to only 52 tons.

“The number of concerns rose from 179 in 1933 to 195 in 1936 and the hands employed from 20,890 in January, 1933 to 24,218 in September, 1936. Besides these the number of concerns with less than fifty but more than ten employees was 295 with 6,259 hands.”

The report also notes that “an Act was brought into operation to regulate the independent exercise of trades, professions, and industries by aliens. Only a few trades have, up to the time of writing (the report is dated March, 1938) been brought under the provisions of this Act.”